One person was killed and three others were seriously injured when a cement mixer truck crushed three autorickshaws after it hit a tree and turned on its side on the Pune-Solapur road in Hadapsar area of Pune Thursday, police said.
The accident took place while the truck was trying to avoid hitting a bike in Utkarsh Nagar area of Hadapsar around 5.30 am, an officer said. An auto driver was killed and three persons in other autorickshaws were seriously injured in the accident.
According to Senior Inspector Arvind Gokule, in-charge of Hadapsar police station, the mixer truck initially hit a very heavy tree in an attempt to avoid hitting a bike. “But after impacting the tree, the mixer truck turned on its side and crushed three rickshaws. Four persons were seriously injured. One autorickshaw driver succumbed to injuries later. Others are being treated at a hospital. We deployed three heavy lift cranes to take the heavily damaged truck and other vehicles off the road,” said the officer who added that the traffic on the road was affected for some time due to the accident.
The police are yet to ascertain the identities of the deceased and the injured. Fire brigade personnel were deployed to take the injured persons out of the damaged vehicles.
